The bill, aims to help track when transfer students complete enough credits for an Associates degree by creating an Associate Degree Completion Program in the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Students can, but don’t have to be, in the process of continuing to earn a Bachelor’s degree.

The bill would require four-year institutions to notify two-year institutions when a transfer student completes 60 credit hours. The two-year college will then audit the credits to see if an associate degree has been completed, and if so, to then award the degree.

Costs are expected to be minimal associated with data-sharing, but the fiscal note says the schools are expected to be able to absorb them.

Overall community college retention rate for students who don’t need remediation: 56.3 percent
Overall community college retention rate for students who need remediation: 54.6 percent

High Schools with the highest remedial rates:

West High School: 89.6 percent; In 2010: 90.7 percent
Montbello High School: 80 percent; In 2010: 71.8 percent
Highland High School: 78.6 percent; In 2010: Did not have more than 25 graduates going to colorado colleges to analyze data
Abraham Lincoln High School: 78.3 percent; In 2010: 78.6 percentHarrison High School: 75.5 percent; In 2010: 55.6 percent

The top two, West and Montbello, have both been undergoing changes. Changes at West will start this fall when two new academies are phased in, and West High in its current form is phased out.

Montbello was designated for turnaround in Novemeber of 2010, and phase out of the school began in the fall of 2011. Two new charter schools have started phasing into the Montbello building to eventually replace the school.

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